News from Local Labour

The Barons Court project is the second charitable organisation to benefit
from having had the freehold of their building transferred to them under Hammersmith
and Fulham Council’s asset transfer programme.

Council tax
rises: 95 per cent of local authorities planning hikes amid Government cuts and rising demand
for services.

Teachers’
leaders are warning of bigger classes and less individual attention for
pupils, after analysis of government figures showed secondary schools in
England have lost 15,000 teachers and teaching assistants since 2015.

Residents of the homes
surrounding Grenfell Tower have been told they
must pay rent, despite more than a fifth
of them still living in hotels due to ongoing maintenance problems.

Message from Regis Mutual Management

Regis Mutual Management were delighted to sponsor the Labour
Local Government Conference. Regis are specialists in the creation and
management of mutuals and have been providing the LGA with technical advice in
their progress to deliver a mutual for Local Government. The new Local Government mutual will provide
local authorities with the cover they expect, but any surplus achieved will
belong to its owners – you. Not private shareholders.

At its heart will be collaboration to identify the sources
of claims and reduce their incidence. It will use in-house professionals to
manage claims wherever possible. The mutual funds will be used to meet the
expected claims with the exposure to large individual or aggregated losses
covered through the placement of insurance.

By collaborating to buy insurance in this way, local
government will be able to leverage its position with the capital markets for
the insurance it needs. It’s a better way to use your collective capability and
strength, and it’s an approach that is growing across the world.

At the conference we
met many councillors wanting change and excited by the possibilities that the
new mutual will bring. If you would like more information from the LGA, contact James Alexander at james.alexander@local.gov.uk or on 07711 238741.

Message from Socialist Health Association - What can councillors do about health?

We
know councillors can’t wait for the next Labour Government. They have to take
difficult decisions about health and social care and protect their residents
the best they can.

Now that councillors are getting a say in the running of the NHS we want to
build up our network of councillors with an interest in health - and encourage
more to take an interest. We can offer some support - we have experts in
public health and a very wide variety of clinicians and academics if you need
advice about something technical. But we think mostly we could help by
building up local networks so people can share experience and learn from each
other.

We
organised an event focused on public health issues at the Labour local
government conference. You can see one of the presentations and a video
of the discussion online. If
you need support on the technicalities of public health intelligence we can
probably find you someone to talk to.

We
plan to organise some more events around the country to bring councillors
together later in the year, dealing with the trickier issues around dealing
with the NHS - STPs, ACOs or whatever they will be called next month. These probably need to be local, because what is happening is very different in different areas. If you want us to do something in your area please
get in touch.

It's
hard for us to keep track of which councillors to contact, so it would be very
helpful if you are interested if you could let us know. Maybe your Labour
group would like to affiliate to the Association - which costs £25 a
year. For details contact: admin@sochealth.co.uk

Events

No Family Left Behind 2018 - Child
Poverty Action Group and 4in10: London’s Child Poverty Network are running a
series of events to support London councillors and share expertise and best
practice on working with low income families. The events will provide the
opportunity for local authorities to learn from each other and experts, and
improve local responses. We would therefore be delighted if someone from your
leadership team, could attend our next event:

The event will look specifically at how
Councillors and local authorities can make best use of HWB Strategies to
set the direction for local health and other service provision to tackle health
inequalities for local families.